/m/dugout

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Roger Peckinpaugh was a very prominent player for somebody who hit .259 lifetime and never showed much power even after the advent of the lively ball. He is best known for making errors in the 1925 Series, but his defensive numbers by both WAR and DRA are outstanding, with the result that he turned in a 45-WAR career as seen by modern metrics, roughly corroborating contemporary evaluation that he was a very valuable player.

Al Worthington is another interesting player. He was probably helped as much as any other single pitcher by the 1963 revision of the strike zone. He had pretty much played out the string as a starter and swingman over a dozen years or so, rising from the minors and falling back there by his mid-30s. Then came '63 and wham, he was striking out everybody in sight and establishing himself as an ace reliever at an age when even he had to have projected himself as being retired. He ended up staying in the majors till he was 40.

Don Hoak is the third baseman who made the error in the 13th inning to end Harvey Haddix's perfect game. Since that was the only thing I'd ever heard about him, it's surprising to see that he actually had a decent career.

"After his playing career ended, Hoak was a Pirates' broadcaster for two years, a coach for the Phillies in 1967, and a manager in the Pirates' farm system for the next two years.[citation needed] He died on October 9, 1969, of a heart attack while chasing his brother-in-law’s stolen car. Earlier that very day the Pirates had re-hired Danny Murtaugh as the manager — a position for which Hoak had believed himself a contender."

Hoak was one of the Reds chosen for the All Star team when Cincy stuffed the ballot box in 1957, but he wasn't an egregious choice. He had a good season, with a 125 OPS+. Eddie Mathews had a better season (154), but their first halves weren't that far apart, with Mathews at 160 and Hoak at 147.

The Pirates had Don Hoak as a player and then an announcer and organization man for most of the 1960s. The Steelers had running back Dick Hoak for the whole decade. They seem to be the only people named Hoak who have Wikipedia articles.

It's fixed in my mind that Don Hoak served in the Marine Corps, and the first eight or ten Google results for him also say that. But his B-Ref page shows him as playing pro ball steadily from ages 19-35, not leaving much time for a Marine hitch.

An essay by Jack V. Morris in the book Sweet '60 (available on Google Books) says that Hoak enlisted in the Navy at age 17 in 1945, and was discharged a year later when his father died. I guess that might have been amplified by legend into Marine service.

An essay by Jack V. Morris in the book Sweet '60 (available on Google Books) says that Hoak enlisted in the Navy at age 17 in 1945, and was discharged a year later when his father died. I guess that might have been amplified by legend into Marine service.

Well, the Marines are technically part of the Navy, so he could have enlisted in the Navy and been assigned to the Marines.

Wiki also says he played a year in Cuba, and that he batted against law student Fidel Castro. This had to be in 1946, as his minor league records start in 1947 with full seasons, and 1946 would fit in with Castro's timeline

I guess that's an outside possibility. (Midshipmen go from Annapolis into either Navy or Marines, for instance, though that's not relevant to Hoak.) But the Navy and Marines have distinctly separate and quite elaborate recruiting systems, and did so during WW2. It would be very unusual to say you'd enlisted in the Navy (especially as a kid straight out of high school) and then immediately become a Marine.

I occasionally like to say this whenever Hank Aaron pops up in a situation like this thread. I have a historical league going in OOTP, started in 1901, and it is now in 1970. When preparing for the rookie draft each year I check out the BBRef pages for every single player. The only guy whose stats had me mesmerized was Hank Aaron. We all know about him, how good he was, etc. We also all accept that he wasn't quite as good as, say, Willie Mays or Ted Williams or Barry Bonds. Knowing this, I was not prepared to look at his career. It is something else.

In Ball Four Hoak was also credited (when he managed in the minors) with the most inspirational clubhouse pep talk in baseball history.

That's my favourite bit from Ball Four, but I never remembered that it's Hoak who was the speech giver. I've been playing strat-o-matic games with the 1960 Pirates, now I'm going to chuckle whenever Hoak gets a hit.

Hank Aaron and Eddie Matthews put up an 8 rWAR season together twice - '59 and '63. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth are the only other pair of position player teammates to do this more than once (four times!)

Can you name the seven pairs of position player teammates that put up an 8 rWAR season together since Aaron and Matthews in '59?

Al Worthington is another interesting player. He was probably helped as much as any other single pitcher by the 1963 revision of the strike zone. He had pretty much played out the string as a starter and swingman over a dozen years or so, rising from the minors and falling back there by his mid-30s. Then came '63 and wham, he was striking out everybody in sight and establishing himself as an ace reliever at an age when even he had to have projected himself as being retired. He ended up staying in the majors till he was 40.

Yes, but the reason why he went back down to the minors in his 30s is fascinating. Worthington was traded to the White Sox in September 1960, and pitched four games for them at the end of the 1960 season. At the time, the White Sox were stealing signs through stationing someone in the scoreboard with binoculars, who would relay the signs to the players. Worthington was a devout Christian, and when he found out, he felt that such stealing violated his religious beliefs. He went to General Manager Hank Greenberg, and told him that he couldn't play for a team that cheated in that manner. He then packed his bags and went home. He spent the next two seasons in the minors, and Greenberg said that he tried to trade him, but that other teams were reluctant to take him because they thought he was "some sort of cuckoo", according to Greenberg. After putting up a 15-4 season in the AA in 1962, the Reds took him in the Rule 5 draft, and he made it back to the majors. But he lost two years out of his MLB career because he felt his religious beliefs contradicted what his team was doing...

And finished no lower than 17th all 19 seasons (Willie Mays finished no lower than 6th from 1957-66).

What's crazy is that for someone who retired as the all-time home run leader, how many times would you think he led his league in homers? 7 or 8? Maybe 9 or 10? No, 4. His consistency was amazing--he never hit 50 or 60 home runs, just 37-44 home runs for about 17 years straight. Incredible.

Don Hoak is the third baseman who made the error in the 13th inning to end Harvey Haddix's perfect game. Since that was the only thing I'd ever heard about him, it's surprising to see that he actually had a decent career.

Bill Buckner would empathize. 2700 career hits and all anybody knows is one dang error.

One of my favorite random Aaron facts is that he finished exactly third in the MVP voting six different times, the last of which came 15 years after the first. I have no intention of checking this, but I expect that's easily the most times anyone has finished third.

Yes, but the reason why he went back down to the minors in his 30s is fascinating. Worthington was traded to the White Sox in September 1960, and pitched four games for them at the end of the 1960 season. At the time, the White Sox were stealing signs through stationing someone in the scoreboard with binoculars, who would relay the signs to the players. Worthington was a devout Christian, and when he found out, he felt that such stealing violated his religious beliefs. He went to General Manager Hank Greenberg, and told him that he couldn't play for a team that cheated in that manner. He then packed his bags and went home. He spent the next two seasons in the minors, and Greenberg said that he tried to trade him, but that other teams were reluctant to take him because they thought he was "some sort of cuckoo", according to Greenberg. After putting up a 15-4 season in the AA in 1962, the Reds took him in the Rule 5 draft, and he made it back to the majors. But he lost two years out of his MLB career because he felt his religious beliefs contradicted what his team was doing...

Jim Bouton also quotes this story in Ball Four, but there's no particular reason to believe it's true.

Worthington was traded to Boston before the 1960 season. He was terrible in 10 relief appearances for the Red Sox, then was sent to the minors where he put up good numbers for Minneapolis (in its last season as a minor league team) as a swingman. The White Sox took him on a conditional deal, but it looks like he was injured in 1961; he pitched in only 23 games for San Diego, again as a swingman, and was so-so. He recovered nicely at Indianapolis in 1962 but by then he was turning 34. The Reds took a gamble on him in the Rule 5 draft and when Jim Brosnan stumbled coming out of the gate, Worthington took over Brosnan's role as the righty counterpart to Bill Henry and Brosnan was moved to the White Sox.

Worthington did have trouble throwing strikes, and I'm inclined to agree that the change in strike zone in 1963 helped turn him into a useful reliever.

Jim Bouton also quotes this story in Ball Four, but there's no particular reason to believe it's true.

Worthington was traded to Boston before the 1960 season. He was terrible in 10 relief appearances for the Red Sox, then was sent to the minors where he put up good numbers for Minneapolis (in its last season as a minor league team) as a swingman. The White Sox took him on a conditional deal, but it looks like he was injured in 1961; he pitched in only 23 games for San Diego, again as a swingman, and was so-so. He recovered nicely at Indianapolis in 1962 but by then he was turning 34. The Reds took a gamble on him in the Rule 5 draft and when Jim Brosnan stumbled coming out of the gate, Worthington took over Brosnan's role as the righty counterpart to Bill Henry and Brosnan was moved to the White Sox.

Worthington did have trouble throwing strikes, and I'm inclined to agree that the change in strike zone in 1963 helped turn him into a useful reliever.

-- MWE

It's possible that his performance may not have been good enough to return to the majors, but both Worthington himself, and Greenberg, who was the ChiSox GM at the time, confirm that Worthington refused to pitch for the White Sox because of his beliefs, and was assigned to the minors because of that.